Julian Pollack just a short video about his personal travel rig…
In which he is presently using the Akai MPK Mini Plus.
I don’t know, but the kid can play keys.
Cheers!
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…i’d always say…if not an 88 half weighted keybed, where u just know, ALL possible and audible and musical relevant frequencies are right in front of u, always waiting to be nudged to ur liking, any novation micro pad controler or akai mini whatever controler will do totally fine…
whatever u’ll end up with, in any realworld scenario, u want at least 8 knobs to twiddle, 1 and a half octaves of keys with decent octave shift options, pitch/modulation control nearby and any stop/play/rec button combo is a totally useless waste of space…
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Pro: can be bought almost anywhere when on tour.
Con: needs to be re bought and refrigerated at almost any stop of the tour.
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Pro: you can put them in your rider for each gig and you get to eat them afterwards.
On topic: I’m going to do some digging on the MPK Mini Plus for myself, as I was keen on the new Novation MK4 49 but watching the J3PO video I’ve realised I might play it most if it’s small enough to have out all of the time.
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Also, if you’re hungry in the middle of a show…
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polyphony -1
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Korg Nanokey Studio? Has some kind of keys, 8 knobs, 8 pads and a nanopad. And it’s tiny.
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I’m going to make a wild assumption based on the music released by NOMASTERS.
You are not going to try and play virtuoso melodic passages with it are you? I owned both the Akai mini, and the mini lab mk3, and they are… absolutely fine, keys are what you pay for.
If you are not into Arturia’s software, a used akai mini will serve you just fine.
The Arturia does have better connectivity, and don’t discount the utility of a 5 pin midi out.
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I use this as my midi keyboard. A little bigger than what you are looking for but has nice features built in.
#fatar4life
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i had this and even though I have small hands, i found the keys too small and the pads felt shitty to me.
now i use and can suggest the Korg microKEY Air-25:
for a low budget keyboard, the keys feel really great + if you want, you can use it via bluetooth (with AA batteries) and avoid cables or even stand up, hold it like a guitar and play it like a rockstar. USB connection is possible too.
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If you don’t care about keyboard feel too much, for Ableton, just get a launchkey mini mk4
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I just got LK Mini 25 MK4. First thought when touching it’s keybed was “terrible”, but it’s fine after playing with it for a while. Not very responsible though so not great for very fast playing. I like the feel of buttons, they have a nice quiet click to them, pads are good too, encoders are a bit stiff but feel quality, integration with Logic and Ableton is really good, it’s compact, sturdy and looks cool.
Still, my KeyStep 37 has much better keybed, so Minilab probably too, if it’s any similar to KS. But I prefer the functions, design and size of LK.
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Man, I like those and I would have one already if only it had even a TRS MIDI out.
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“sir, why is there ‘25 raw sausages’ on your rider?”
Sausage rider
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Bic lighter
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any of the ones you mentioned will probably work for you. awhile back, i also picked up a m-audio oxygen 25 controller, because it has full size keys. if your hands are big, or you don’t like smaller keys, it may be a good option. i recommend more than 25 keys if you can do it. controllers with 37 keys are still pretty portable.
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They are all pretty similar. I like the Arturia build quality the best. I’d pick up a Minilab or Keystep 37.
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If those keys are similar to the ones as the CME X-key Air, I would definitely say try before you buy. I think that is one of the worst bits of gear I’ve ever purchased. The spacing is weird and I couldn’t get used to the keys being that shallow and clicky (while probably irrelevant to that one the Bluetooth implementation on the CME was not for me either. A real PITA to have to set it up each time and it would drop out while you were working and you’d have to go do it again).
The photo triggered a feeling of rage. Haha.
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There’s also NI M32. A couple of extra keys will be nice compared to 25 key controllers, daw control buttons are very useful (same as larger A series), transport knob is great and encoders are touch sensitive. No pads through, integration with Ableton is not at the same level as LK and arp only works via Komplete Kontrol plugin (as is NKS support).